Motion Picture Reviews (1933)

Eight Motion Picture Reviews ago, attracted much attention because of its beauty of setting and the sincerity and novelty of its treatment of the war theme. “The Rebel” again presents Luis Trenker as actor and co-director and again the story is imaginatively produced and exquisitely photograped against the grandeur and beauty of the Tyrolean Alps. It is likewise a war drama based on historical fact — the rebellion of the Tyrol against the invasion of Napoleon, but while “The Doomed Battalion” stressed the human values of loyalty and love, temporarily forced into the background by the stern necessities of war, this story is definitely Chauvanistic in emphasizing the hero’s fanatical devotion to his country. The fact that it frankly builds for nationalism may make it on the whole less appealing to Americans, whose hope and faith is for greater security through international mindedness. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Undoubtedly entertaining Too exciting REUNION IN VIENNA » » John Barrymore, Diana Wynyard, Frank Morgan, Henry Travers, May Robson. Adapted from the play by Robert Sherwood. Direction by Sidney Franklin. M-C-M. “Reunion in Vienna” is polished, sophisticated, delightfully gay, a worldly comedy brilliantly produced. It does not lose in its translation to the screen, because the greater latitude of this medium permits the use of gorgeous pageantry of the past, impossible on the stage, but stimulating to the imagination and really necessary to point the full significance of the problem. It tells the story of a fallen Hapshurg archduke — now a taxi driver in Nice — who returns to join a reunion of the old nobility and to see his former mistress, now married to a brilliant psychiatrist. The doctor insists that his wife see her former lover — a treatment he would prescribe for any patient suffering from the same illusions. The play allows the spectator to judge the success of this procedure. It is exceptionally well cast, and the director has kept the action clever, spontaneous and intelligent. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Too mature Too mature RUSTY RIDES ALONE » » Tim McCoy, Barbara Weeks, Dorothy Burgess. Direction by D. Ross Lederman. Columbia Pictures Corp. A Western picture, purely adventurous in style, in which a cowboy and his heroic dog save a peaceful canyon for its rightful owners. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good Excellent sr THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE » » Miriam Hopkins, Jack LeRue, Wm. Gargan, Irving Pichel. Adapted from “Sanctuary” by William Faulkner. Direction by Stephen Roberts. Paramount. If one has read the book from which this picture is adapted, it will be difficult to view the screen version without being influenced by knowledge of the heroine’s abnormal character. The lurid advertising is another confusing factor in judging the picture. But as the story is actually presented it depicts the bitter experience of a girl who is held under the spell of a despicable character until she finally murders him. It is very slow moving, the atmosphere of horror is almost too consciously manufactured to be artistic, and many people will find the theme unjustifiably morbid and unhappy. However, because of Miss Hopkins’ sensitive delineation of the tragic heroine, it is an interesting character study. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Impossible Certainly not THRILL HUNTER » » Buck Jones, Dorothy Revier, Edward LeSaint, Eddie Kane, Arthur Rankin. Direction by George Seitz. Columbia Pictures Corp. This is one of the better cowboy pictures, offering some originality of plot with characterizations rather than types. Buck Jones brags of imaginary exploits until he convinces a motion picture director that he is authentic and is given a movie contract, and when he fails miserably as a stunt flyer, pride and the fair Marjorie force him to become a real hero in an even more dangerous field. As a family picture adults will not find it too boring while it entertains the younger members. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good . Good •w THUNDER OVER MEXICO » » Presented by Sol Lesser (Principal Pictures, Inc.). Direction by Sergei Eisenstein. “Thunder Over Mexico” is an unusual picture, absorbing, beautiful and horrible, and very provocative in subject matter. Possibly intended as an epic of the oppression of the Mexican peons by Spanish land owners, their revolt and final release and adjustment to the “machine age,” it actually fails to be